You can attend just about any high school wrestling dual match and quickly notice one thing:
Many schools have lineups with gaps, because there aren’t enough kids to fill all the weight classes, and teams forfeit crucial points because of it.
That’s not a problem at Reeths-Puffer, where the Rockets have 27 athletes out for wrestling this season, spread out nicely at different weights, and they anticipate fielding a full lineup for every match this season.
“We have guys at every weight,” said second-year R-P wrestling coach Jared Fleming, whose team will open the season on Wednesday night with a pair of dual matches at Grand Rapids
West Catholic. “Every season there are numerous things that happen with injuries, leaving a few gaps here and there, but with what we have now we should be able to fill them up.”
Kaden Malotke
The Rockets will not only have a full lineup, but a really good one, as well. They return a ton of guys with a lot of talent and experience.
That means Reeths-Puffer has a very good chance to surpass last year’s accomplishments, which included a second-place finish in the O-K Green conference team standings. advancing three wrestlers to individual regionals and sending two to the Division 2 state finals.
“We have high hopes for a team that returns 12 of 14 starters to our lineup,” Fleming said. “Nothing is going to be given to us, and the beautiful thing about the sport of wrestling is how humbling it is. We might be favored, or we might be the underdogs for the conference, district, region or state. Anyone can get got on any given day. We’re working hard to make sure we’re on the right side of things.”
Ian Cook
The top R-P returner is only a sophomore – Ian Cook – and he could be making some big news this season.
Last season Cook, competing at 103 pounds, posted an amazing 47-5 record and finished third in the state in his weight class. All five of his losses were to opponents who placed at state.
“He’s the most credentialed wrestler in our room,” Fleming said. “We have super high hopes for him.”
The Rockets are also expecting big things from senior Kaden Malotke, who was 31-8 last season while wrestling at 130 or 135 pounds.
Nathan Stafford
Malotke qualified for the state finals for the second time, despite competing with an injured hand. He finished with a 1-2 record at state, but Fleming says he can do a lot better this season.
“He’s a super tough kid,” the coach said about Malotke. “He’s a leader on our team, and he put a lot of work in during the offseason. He had like 30 offseason matches, wrestling in different tournaments around the country. I think he has the potential to finish in the top three in the state.”
After Cook and Malotke, the Rockets have several wrestlers who were good last year, with records above .500, and should be ready to make big improvements this winter.
That list includes heavyweight Nathan Stafford, who was 26-18 as a sophomore last season; seniors Omillion Wyrick and Caleb Zimmerman, who were 24-13 and 13-7, respectively, while wrestling in the 171-189 range and battling injuries; Brayden Chase, who was 16-13 last year as a freshman at 103 pounds; and Sage Secrest, who was 18-16 as a freshman while wrestling at 152 pounds.
Omillion Wyrick
Fleming is also very keen on freshman Jake Rozycki, who will compete at 113 pounds this season. Rozycki has a lot of natural talent and experience wrestling with club teams.
“He’s part of the same offseason club as Ian (Cook), and while I don’t want to compare the two of them, he is a wrestler of Ian’s caliber,” the coach said. “We have real high hopes for him.”
There’s a lot of potential throughout the rest of the roster, which includes Cory Judd, Andrew Corradin, Caden Huddleston, Nathan Reeves, Braden Wagner, Trevor Sabec, Owen Schab, Nathan Straley, Lucas Garrido, Jaxson Mastenbrook, Blake Miller, Anthony Fonger, Colton McKinnon, Tristan Baker, Max Knowlton, Garrett Olejarczyk, Payton Sircher, Devin Welch and Matt McConnell.